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- Signs such as this one have been hung around campus with the slogan “Helpful Tips for Men.” This sign indicates that someone disagrees with the generalized assumption of the campaign.
On April 25, Golub House hosted Professor Andrew Feffer, chair of the campus’ Sexual Assault and Harassment Committee (SAHC), as part of its Common Lunch Lecture series. With April being Sexual Assault Awareness month, the topic of the discussion was the state of the situation and the climate on our own campus. The statistics for Union, according to the informal survey put out by the committee, match national data and the lecture showed that sexual assault occurs on campus—this issue is real and should be taken seriously.
Some did not get the memo. Appearing across campus have been signs and posters labeled “Helpful Hints for Men” in regards to sexual assault and rape. Such useful and effective anecdotes include “Don’t rape people” or “If you cannot stop yourself from raping people, ask a friend to stay with you in public.” At a time when the mission of effective organizations like SAHC is to promote the seriousness of a serious issue, such frivolity is counterproductive and even irresponsible.
While the signs were not the works of the committee, Feffer was supportive of them, commenting in an e-mail, “The ones I’ve come across appear to me to be part of an effort to provoke students to think about the issue and to discuss it among themselves. I don’t think that’s such a bad thing.”
It should not come as a surprise that, like so many other issues, Feffer and I respectfully disagree on this. People are talking about the signs—but not about the awareness it brings to sexual assault crimes on campus. Rather, the conversation has been one of harsh criticism directed at an individual or group that makes a poor attempt at poking fun at a grave issue.
And why is this directed at all men? Are all men now to be viewed as potential rapists? According to this effort, the answer is yes. The maneuver is blatantly and unequivocally sexist. While women have a much larger risk of being raped, as may be assumed, 3 percent of college men have also been victims. In fact, 4 percent of current male college students across the nation have answered “yes” to the question: “In your lifetime have you been forced to submit to sexual intercourse against your will?”
Furthermore, Union makes it very clear in its Sexual Assault Policy that “both men and women can be perpetrators” and victims. If this effort is a serious attempt at bringing awareness to the issue of rape and assault, then why isolate four percent of the victim base?
These efforts attacking the male population, instead of rooting out the real problem, are not new.
Dr. Christina Hoff Sommers of the American Enterprise Institute has continually advocated for “equity feminism”—that is, equal treatment without regard to gender—instead of feminism “hijacked by gender war eccentrics.”
Sommer’s equity feminism promotes good will and mutual respect between the sexes.
In a 2008 lecture at our neighboring Hamilton College, Sommers criticized the very nascent acts that we see on our own campus today, stating, “Most men are not brutes. They are not oppressors. Yes, there are some contemptible Neanderthals among us, and I have no sympathy for them whatsoever. But to confuse them with the ethical majority of men is blatantly sexist.”
These flyers across campus are but a small part of the problem. They represent an erroneous discourse and a distraction from a real conversation. It not only turns, as Sommers would state, “the worst case example of pathological masculinity and treat it as the norm,” but a serious dialogue into nothing more than triviality. Union can do better. In fact, there are many on this campus who are. Tonight in the Nott is the annual “Take Back the Night” gathering, a very serious attempt at change: real stories and real solutions.
I encourage all to be there so we can turn this destructive amusement into constructive action.
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Thank you. Every time I see one of those signs I feel offended. It’s sexism, but since it’s sexism against men, people (particularly, Feffer and those that made the signs) think it’s OK. I don’t think offending men with sexism is going to help prevent sexual assault.
What do you expect. Feminists are extremely sexist which is why the love posting misandry like this. Get a group of guys together and post some “false rape flyers” around campus and see the fem reaction.
Thanks for writing this Nick!
I find it really irritating when anti-rape morphs into anti-man. While it is true that every many is a potential rapist, every woman is also a potential rapist.
Men and women need to work together to raise awareness about the frequency of the problem as well as how to combat it. While it is everyone’s individual responsibility to NOT RAPE PEOPLE (as those stupid signs say) it is also everyone’s responsibility to minimize risk by not putting themselves in situations that could lead to misunderstandings (that may or may not be rape).
You are a complete moron and have no understanding of patriarchy or oppression if you believe any of the bu**shit you just published. Being sexist against men is like being racist against white people. It’s not possible. Period. Women have been historically oppressed and exploited in the Western world both via labor and their bodies for centuries and you think it’s unfair to say that all men have a part in this system? As in mommmm do my laundry and make me feel better, men have it hard toooouhh. Ultimately, if a cis man is raped, he is a further victim of the patriarchy, whether he likes it or not.
“it is also everyone’s responsibility to minimize risk by not putting themselves in situations that could lead to misunderstandings”
^^^ this is the fascist terrible bullshit that causes women to commit suicide on the daily. Where does minimizing risk end and begin? Don’t go out at night? Don’t go out in public? Don’t dress too conservatively? Don’t go to sleep? What the fuck is minimizing risk?
All in all, you are probably a rapist and don’t even know it as it happens ALL THE ****ING TIME. ‘Sexual assault’ is under the same vein as being in an ‘abusive relationship’. It’s completely privatized, and thus the claims of whether or not a relationship is ‘truly’ abusive or not is up to the naive idiocy of the social justice system. In the REAL STRUGGLING world, most heteronormative relationships are abusive. You know why? Because men and women are trained from birth to believe that women are juicy bulbous erotic objects and earth mother servants and not people. Don’t believe me? Watch any major network for about 5 minutes. Or go to the checkout line of a grocery store. You don’t think you are one of those? You are. Verbal abuse is rampant and its bullshit, and mind games that lead to rape are still considered predatory.
You think I’m wrong? Well you don’t care about women anyway do you?
You’re right bleeding uterus. Who cares about equality we can demonize entire genders and ethnic groups?
You’re a disgrace to the human race. You are a sexist, a racist, and a bigot. There can never be equality for all people as long as people like you exist.
I really feel sorry for you, if that’s how you truly feel. Your ignorance is scary, and depressing. Your hatred is enraging. You are the enemy to humans everywhere.
I hope this is satire!
Bleeding Uterus,
Are you playing? Or just that ignorant?
Are you ignorant? Or just sexist? Feminists hate men because men hate women. I’m ignorant? This fools the one blabbing about how signs telling men explicitly to just NOT RAPE is ‘irresponsible’. Lame.
Ya’ll are going to die in the revolution.
ChickTip #1 Regetting consentual sex 1 week later in not rape.
ChickTip #2 Killing your children is a bad thing.
ChickTip #3 Dreaming your boyfriend rape you and reporting it to the police is a false allegation.
ChickTip #4 If you have children you are supposed to feed them.
ChickTip #5 Having sex with 14yr old boys is illegal.
ChickTip #6 When you get custody of your child remember not to kill it.
ChickTip #7 Regret is not rape – don’t make false rape allegations.
ChickTip #8 Punching your boyfriend in the face for no good reason is DV.
ChickTip #9 If you husband is late from work you are not allowed to kill him.
ChickTip #10 A man you have never met can’t have raped you.
ChickTip #11 If you get pregnant don’t just name the guy who youv’e fucked with the most money as the father
ChickTip #12 If you get pregnant you can avoid any responsibilty by abortion, adoption or surrender. Keep the kid then make the dude pay.
Feminism has become at hate movement. Take back the night is just as bad as the posters, so endorsing that kind of event where misandrists hold up their “all men are rapists” signs is not a good idea at all. The event was invented by a man-hater and it’s sole purpose is to demonize men. Anyhow, if anyone should be taking back the night its men not women as they’re far more likely to be the vicitms of violence than women.
As Bleeding Uterus has kindly demonstrated, feminism is a hate movement based on lies.
Tips for people, #1 – Don’t be a feminist.
I, too, have been unable to stop feeling personally attacked by some signs I have seen up around campus. I take every precaution I’ve ever learned to make sure that my partner is consenting, yet I feel classified as a prejudiced man-rapist every time I’m given “a hint for men.” By definition, everyone’s a potential rapist, but everyone is a potential terrorist, too. But you don’t see government campaigns reminding you not to commit terrorism, you see government campaigns to remind us to look out for perpetrators and suspicious acts.
Dave, I’m not sure if you’ve been to Take Back the Night, but I think that it’s one of the best events that I’ve been to at Union. The people that speak up are incredibly brave, and their stories, while horrid, are an amazing teaching moment. Sexual assault is EVERYWHERE, but it is so easy to overlook it on a day to day basis. As (victimized or not) men, we need to stand alongside the enormous numbers of victimized women. With that said, I don’t particularly like being called a potential rapist – if I’m a potential rapist, then every victimized woman is also a potential rapist, and I would be surprised if she would be OK with someone sternly reminding her not to go rape someone else.
thank you for calling out feffer, he is a radical sexist with no business teaching at union. he has been brainwashing female students here for too long. ever hear a male student have a positive thing to say about feffer?